


Comfort

by AutisticWriter



Series: Platonic Voltron Month [18]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Autism, Autism Spectrum, Autistic Allura (Voltron), Blue Paladin Allura (Voltron), Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Ficlet, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Hugs, Platonic VLD Month 2017, Prompt Fill, Sensory Overload, Shutdowns, Stimming, Support, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-16
Updated: 2017-10-16
Packaged: 2019-01-18 05:33:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12381912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AutisticWriter/pseuds/AutisticWriter
Summary: Hunk helps Allura when she has a shutdown.[Prompt 16: comfort]





	Comfort

Ever since she became its Paladin, Allura has spent a lot of time in the hanger with the Blue Lion. She doesn’t seem to do much, simply sitting there, looking at her Lion and clearly thinking. So that is where everyone first looks if they need to locate Allura, because, nine times out of ten, that is where you will find her.

And today is no exception. Worried about Allura’s behaviour (she’s been acting tense and jumpy all morning, and finally walked out of the Bridge with a comment about everyone being too loud), Hunk goes to track her down. And he finds her pretty quickly, sitting in the hanger with the Blue Lion.

Just like earlier, she looks really stressed, actually rocking backwards and forwards as she sits cross legged on the floor, and Hunk thinks he knows what is wrong. Given that Allura is autistic, and Hunk knows a lot about autism (he always learns about things like autism or PTSD or anxiety, just so he knows how to help if his friends are struggling), he thinks she’s having some kind of sensory overload.

“Allura?” he whispers, walking on tiptoes as he approaches her.

Allura flinches but doesn’t look up. Now he’s closer, Hunk sees that Allura is frantically running her finger through her long hair, and her she looks like she’s close to bursting into tears.

“Are you all right?” he asks. It’s a pretty redundant question, and Hunk wants to kick himself for even saying it.

Allura shakes her head.

“Have you gone nonverbal?”

She shakes her head again. Hunk thinks he understands; Allura must be able to form a few words, but speech must be more difficult than normal.

“Um… do you want me to go?” he says.

To Hunk’s surprise, Allura shakes her head for a third time.

“Stay,” she mumbles, her voice flat. “Please.”

And so Hunk sits down beside her, keeping the Princess company as she goes through a shutdown. At one point, Allura grasps his hand, tightly interlocking their fingers like she can’t bring herself to let go. Tears start to stream down her face, and Hunk finds tears in his eyes; he always gets tearful when he sees other people cry.

When her shutdown is over, Hunk gives Allura a tissue. She smiles weakly and wipes her eyes, still rocking back and forth.

“Thank you,” she says, her voice still flat and trembling.

And then Allura leans forwards and pulls Hunk into a hug. She presses her face against his shoulder, sighing shakily. Hunk sits there for a few seconds, stunned by the sudden hug from someone who doesn’t really do physical contact, but then he snaps back into reality. And so he hugs Allura back, squeezing her tightly (because he knows she finds pressure soothing; that’s why she sleeps under a weighted blanket) and patting her back, just glad he can help her feel better in some way.

“Thank you,” Allura says again.

Hunk isn’t really sure what he’s done, but he’s still glad he has helped his friend. “No problem.”


End file.
